The One You Can't Live Without
by Kiki102
Summary: Every man's worst nightmare: the Mrs and the ex. It's about to become Hodges' reality. Sometimes, you just have to let go. Oneshot.


**First attempt at a Morgan/Hodges story. I just love them so much, really hope they get together! I've had the idea of Wendy coming back for a visit once Hodges is with Morgan for a while, and this just appeared in my head the other night. It's not my best, but it turned out better than I thought. Enjoy!**

**Christina x**

**XOXOXOX**

Hodges stifled a yawn for the third time in thirty minutes. He really needed to get more sleep. However, he also realised that lack of sleep was something he'd have to get used to over the coming months.

Blinking rapidly to keep his eyelids from drooping, he turned his attention back to the evidence in front of him. After carefully removing the fibre, he began the test to discover what secrets the fibre held about Charles Pate's death. He bit back yet another yawn.

"Hodges?"

He froze. Four years. He hadn't heard that voice in four years, yet as soon as he did, it was like no time had passed at all. He hadn't seen her since that hug in the locker room, the same day he'd tried to drown Henry in the pool which was also Catherine's crime scene (Shark in a swimming pool; that was a good case). His body finally caught up with his brain and he whirled round.

"Wendy?"

She gave him a nervous smile.

"Hi."

At first glance, he thought she'd hardly changed at all. But once he looked closer he realised her hair was shorter, and had highlights through it. She wore more make up than four years ago and was wearing a suit.

"What are you doing here?" he said eventually.

"I'm in town for the desert relay. Part of the Portland PD team," Wendy replied, pushing her hands into her pockets.

"Right," he said. Suddenly he remembered that Nick, Greg and Finn had all been training hard during the last few weeks. "Uh, how's it going?"

"It hasn't started yet," she said, smiling.

"Of course. I knew that." He really needed to get some sleep.

"So. How are you?" she asked.

"I'm fine," he replied quickly. "How... How are you?"

"I'm good. Busy. With work."

He nodded.

"You're a CSI now."

"Yeah."

They fell into an awkward silence. So many questions whirled round Hodges' brain, he just couldn't figure out how to ask them. Things had changed so much.

"What you working on?" Wendy said, thankfully breaking the silence.

"Processing a fibre from this," he replied.

"A spear gun?"

He nodded.

"Someone shot it though a guy on his boat."

"Ouch."

"My money's on the daughter," he added.

"Really? How-"

"Why are you here?" he blurted out.

"I told you, I'm here for-"

"No. Why are you here Wendy? In the lab?"

Wendy looked at the ground, shuffling her feet. She shrugged.

"I'm meeting Henry for lunch," she explained. "I thought I'd come and say hello while I was waiting. Lot of different faces around here these days."

She finally met his eyes. They stared at each other.

"Hey Hodges, do you have the results on that fibre yet?"

Wendy and Hodges jumped, breaking eye contact. Wendy studied the woman who'd just entered the room. She was tall, blonde and very pregnant. As Wendy watched, Hodges grabbed his chair and spun it over the the woman before helping her onto it. The woman flashed Hodges a grin.

"Thanks," she said, squeezing his arm. Hodges gave her the briefest of smiles, glancing between her and Wendy. Following his glance, the woman noticed Wendy for the first time. She gave her a friendly smile. "Hi."

"Hello," Wendy replied.

"Morgan, this is Wendy, Wendy Simms. She used to work here when she was a DNA tech," Hodges explained. "Wendy, this is CSI Morgan Brody."

"Pleased to meet you," Morgan said, before turning back to Hodges. She rubbed her stomach. "I went with Finn to see the vic's housekeeper and he was kicking all through the interview. You wouldn't believe it after he kept me awake all night."

Despite his discomfort at his current situation, Hodges couldn't help smile. He picked up the freshly printed results on the fibre and handed it to Morgan.

"These fibres are from a pretreated cotton/poly blend, very popular colour, but I can tell you that your killer used their clothing to wipe the spear gun. And not only that, these fibres are the colour blue, so your killer is wearing something blue," he said.

"Great. I'll pass this to Russell," Morgan said, pulling herself to her feet again. "Thanks." She reached up, brushing her lips against his cheek, before what could only be described as waddling out of the room. Hodges smiled.

"Looks like you're doing a bit better than fine."

He turned back to Wendy. She indicated to the wedding ring on his finger.

"How long?" she asked.

"A little over a year."

"She seems nice."

"She is. She's... crazy and impulsive and has a habit of getting herself kidnapped at least once a year."

"Congratulations," Wendy said with a strained smile.

XOXOXOX

Wendy sat in the break room, waiting impatiently for Henry to finish his shift. She just wanted to get out of there. She'd given up everything to move to Portland and follow her dream of being a CSI. However in doing so, she now realised she'd given up her dream of a family and the first man she'd every been able to envisage herself living with for the rest of her life. Now Hodges had moved on, with a beautiful wife and a baby on the way. She felt like an idiot. Closing her eyes and letting her head hang back she sighed.

"Looks serious."

Wendy's eyes snapped open and she twisted round to see Morgan pouring herself a mug of tea. Morgan smiled at her.

"Just thinking. About regrets."

Morgan eased herself into a chair.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked. Wendy laughed internally. Discussing the fact she'd left a man for a job and regretted it with said man's new wife? Definitely not.

"Just that I may have gotten my priorities mixed up," she replied, hoping Morgan would leave it. She didn't.

"How so?"

"I put my work first."

"We're all guilty of doing that," Morgan replied, blowing on her tea.

"You look like you're doing okay." Wendy hoped that didn't come across as bitter as it sounded in her head.

"Yeah, but it took me a while to get my priorities straight," Morgan explained. "I got kidnapped and nearly killed. It really shook me up. Then I realised I wanted to be with Hodges. Except he was still engaged to Elisabetta."

"Elisabetta?"

"He met her on holiday in Italy. But they broke up soon afterwards and the rest is history." Morgan hesitated, then leaned forward. "Do you mind if I give you a bit of advice?"

Yes, Wendy minded a lot. However, she said nothing. Morgan seemed to take this as permission to go ahead.

"When Hodges started having doubts about Elisabetta, I told him something I'd heard at a wedding once. Don't marry the one you think you can live with, marry the one you can't live without." Morgan leaned back, rubbing her stomach. "For me, that was Hodges. It was always Hodges, I just didn't realise it."

XOXOXOX

Morgan's words echoed through Wendy's mind throughout her meal with Henry. _Don't marry the one you think you can live with, marry the one you can't live without. _After saying goodbye to Henry and returning to her hotel room, they still echoed in there. Dumping her bag on the floor, Wendy locked the door then collapsed onto the bed. _Don't marry the one you think you can live with, marry the one you can't live without. _

Hodges was the first man she'd ever been able to envisage herself spending the rest of her life with. As crazy as it had seemed, they worked. Until she'd changed the game. But now she realised that if she hadn't left, she wouldn't have been happy. She wanted to be in the field. And the truth of the matter was, she could live without Hodges. She's been living without him for four years. Neither of them had chased after the other, neither had made the effort to stay in touch. Yes they worked, and yes they could've spent the rest of their lives together.

But.

She remembered they way he'd smiled at Morgan, and the look in Morgan's eyes when she talked about him. They truly loved each other. They deserved to be happy.

And Wendy knew that now she had to stop thinking _what if?_ and start moving on. She could live without him. However out there somewhere was the man she couldn't live without. And she'd never find him if she spent all her time regretting.

XOXOXOX

"She's your ex."

"What?" Hodges frowned. Morgan waddled through from the kitchen, easing herself down onto the couch next to him.

"Wendy. She's your ex, isn't she?" she said.

Hodges mouth opened and closed in his best goldfish impression, trying to figure out how Morgan had figured it out.

"Please," she said reading his mind. "I know you too well."

She leaned over and kissed him, before settling into his side to watch TV. Shaking his head, Hodges simply smiled.


End file.
